Even the best made plans can easily go astray as I'm sure that many of you can attest to.
The shot that you are looking at is unfortunately NOT on a model railroad, but on the full-size Norfolk Southern Pocahontas Division in the mountains of West Viriginia at the small town of Keystone, WV.
Cindy and I decided to go away for the weekend to our new favorite getaway at the Elkhorn Inn which is about 3 miles west of this photo location.
Since part of the enjoyment of the location to me is watching and photographing trains, the derailment meant that while I got some unusual photos of the cars above (brand new clean on their sides), it also meant that the traffic was probably 25% of what it would of been on a normal weekend.
While that usually would of been something that would of upset me, this weekend I did a really good job of just flowing with it. Less trains meant more time to read, time for a nice afternoon nap, and more conversation with our hosts.
The wreck also gave me a chance to see how a major railroad deals with a derailment on one of their mainlines. Luckily no one was hurt by the wreck. Here is my article about the derailment http://exm.nr/keystonewv
We had a wonderful weekend, it was just different from what I expected in the first place.
Sidelight:
On our way to West Virginia, we stopped at the Chateau Morrisette winery which is located just off of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. Take a look at their website at http://www.chateaumorrisette.com/ to see the beautiful property. Cindy and I had our first wine tasting adventure at the winery and found some great wines which we really liked. One thing that impressed us is that several of the wines have profits which partially go towards animal rescue groups. The winery is pet-friendly and you have to make sure to pet the dogs which roam the property. Next time we'll make time to have dinner on the property.
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